[Translator - Jjescus]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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Chapter 291: The Vile Rat That Pollutes the Seas (8)
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A collision occurred.
The broken and corrupted cub was now fighting Bayern.
Clang!
Bayern, having regained his stance, let out a breath of admiration.
"Strong! So this is still just a cub?"
Though it wasn’t fully grown, it was still a monstrous creature of hero-class.
Even one of them had the power to devastate the North.
[Roaaaar!]
The cub charged, swinging its enormous front paws.
Bayern gripped his axe tighter.
Boom!
The bear's body couldn't withstand the overwhelming force and was sent flying.
Bayern muttered regretfully.
"What a shame."
The cub was indeed strong.
But it wasn’t on par with Bayern.
Even within the same hero-class, there was a vast difference.
"It could have grown to possess power like its parent... but it has been tainted by something else."
[Roar!]
The cub sprang up again and charged once more.
Bayern spoke in a low voice.
"I owe your parent a great deal."
Bayern had once nearly died at the hands of a bear in the white snowfield.
That place would have been his grave if it weren’t for the barbarians.
"But I am grateful for that experience. It opened my arrogant eyes to reality. So, I will repay that debt."
Bayern's mystery flared, strengthening his body.
"I will set you free."
Boom!
Once again, the two collided.
A battle between the monster of the white snowfield and the Barbarian King.
This fight would surely go down in history.
But people couldn’t focus on their fight.
Because elsewhere, a much larger clash was taking place that made their struggle seem insignificant.
"...Is that a monster on par with the bear?"
Bayern muttered, watching the battle from afar.
"It seems I have little chance of victory in my current state."
And the one who was overwhelming that monster:
Ketal.
Bayern smiled bitterly.
"I’ll have to explain this properly to the barbarians later."
That he was weaker than Ketal.
Though, whether they’d accept that was another matter.
With a sigh, Bayern tightened his grip on his axe and clashed with the corrupted bear cub with all his might.
* * *
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The earth rumbled.
The swamp and the pollution exploded like molten lava, dirtying everything around.
The air was polluted, turning the atmosphere green.
This was the rat’s lair.
The density of pollution here was on a completely different level from the outskirts.
Thick, dark toxins moved according to the will of their master.
This place was no longer part of the surface world.
It was the domain of filth.
The world of the rat.
Boom!
And Ketal was destroying and smashing that world.
He was breaking it apart and sending it flying.
The pollution that dirtied everything scattered like mud.
Some toxins clung to Ketal’s body in the process, burning and corrupting his skin.
But due to the sheer resilience of his body, they couldn’t penetrate deeply.
Boom!
Punching through all the attacks, he swung his fist.
Crack.
With a sound of something breaking, the rat’s body was sent flying.
It barely managed to stay upright, scraping the ground with its hind legs, and swung its front paw wildly.
[Screech!]
The swamp rippled and then surged violently.
It was a wave of poison.
Any land covered by it would rot and decay for over a thousand years.
Ketal drew his axe.
Pop!
Blood vessels burst as his muscles twisted.
He swung his axe with all his might.
Boom!
The wave of poison split in two.
The attack that seemed capable of engulfing the world collapsed with a single swing.
The shockwave didn’t stop there and sliced through the rat’s body.
Not even the rat at its strongest could stop it.
So, it dodged.
The rat, now filled with venomous resolve, conjured a dense shield.
It was the kind of shield that even an ancient dragon would need all its strength to break through—an absolute defense.
Ketal swung his axe.
Shatter!
That impregnable defense crumbled in an instant.
However, unlike before, Ketal's movements had slowed slightly.
The rat took advantage of the opening and leaped away.
Crash!
The axe sliced through the air, leaving a deep scar on the wall of the abyss.
But that was all.
It didn't reach the rat.
The rat had successfully evaded Ketal's full-power strike.
[Screeeech!]
Excited by the realization, the rat let out a wild cry.
[I can dodge your attacks now!]
Ketal and the rat had clashed countless times.
They knew each other all too well.
That's why the rat was certain.
[I can beat you now! You will fall to me!]
The rat shouted in excitement, and it wasn't mere overconfidence.
[Your power has limits!]
Ketal's strength came primarily from his physical body.
Of course, that wasn't all.
If he willed it, his very will could affect the world itself.
But that ability was almost pitifully insignificant compared to Ketal's physical power.
A joke, even.
Just looking at how long it took him to break the control of the High Elf Queen Karin or to resist the grip of an ancient dragon—it was clear.
By his strength alone, such influences should have been nothing.
It was an incredibly odd situation.
The reason was simple.
[You are strong. You have the power to fight against the elders. But, you are suppressing yourself!]
Ketal had the potential to reach the highest heights, yet he was dragging himself down.
[You're trapped by your stubborn belief that you are human! Yes, you're still mighty, but a lack has emerged in you that never should have existed!]
Why was Ketal's body unable to withstand its own power?
It was because Ketal had deliberately warped himself.
It was a self-inflicted flaw.
[In this abyss, I can kill you!]
In the abyss, the rat could avoid Ketal's full power.
And it could corrupt Ketal with the abyss's poison.
With a drawn-out battle, the rat could destroy Ketal's body and finally kill him.
[Finally!]
Finally! After all this time, the rat could claim victory over this monster.
It was filled with elation.
[Coming into this abyss was your mistake, barbarian! Your arrogance will be your death!]
“You're right.”
Ketal did not deny the rat's words.
They were true.
If he had let go of everything, abandoned his identity as a human, and fully accepted his nature, he could have reached far higher.
At the very least, he could have wielded a strength far beyond what he had now.
But he would have become something entirely different if he had done that.
What Ketal desired wasn't simply more strength.
It was a fantasy.
A dream he had always longed for.
[You're still filled with arrogance. Maybe that's why you’ve managed to gain such power in so short a time. But because of that arrogance, you will die here.]
“Who knows?”
Ketal smiled faintly.
“I didn’t let go, just as you said. So, I missed out on the power I should have had. But because of that, I gained something else.”
Rattle.
The mysterious force within Ketal began to stir, and his body strengthened in an instant.
The rat’s eyes widened.
[...You!]
Ketal gripped his axe and swung.
Boom!
[Kaahhh!]
The rat didn’t even have time to react.
It was struck head-on, crashing into the wall and coughing up blood.
“Hiding it was tough. If I had revealed it too early, you would have fled without looking back.”
[You... no, it can’t be!]
“You said coming into the abyss was my arrogance? Let me turn that back on you.”
The rat’s power.
The abyss.
It was indeed formidable.
It could concentrate the entire corruption of the abyss even to taint Ketal’s body.
But concentrating all the corruption into one place meant that there was no longer a way for the rat to escape through the abyss.
Ketal could now truly kill the rat.
His cold smile spread.
“I told you, didn’t I? This time, I will kill you for sure.”
[Translator - Jjescus]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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